Demons are the Pagan Gods of Ancient Times

[Crazierfox]

Can someone actually show me something Demonic?

lot to look at
Still have nightmares after this. Cern tunnel
Of course this
Hope these helped

[DontTreadOnMe]

They are real.  I've encountered them.  They are not anything to screw around with.   And no, I don't want to talk about it any more than that.

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Amen to that, FF!!!

[Blaine91555]

Actually not as universal as you might think.  In ancient Egypt they had a "universal law' (the law of Ma'at) which in its most basic form is "don't be a jerk to ANYone or anything."  It's more nuanced than that, but that's the quick and dirty form.  The gods were all good except for Set, who was problematical and even he had a redemption arc (until the Christians got ahold of him.)

Evil things were caused by demons but humans made their own choices.  There was no such thing as a demon spirit that tempted them into doing bad stuff.

Nor do Native American beliefs (of any that I've studied) see that distinction... people do bad things but there's no God of Doing Bad Stuff.   Same with Norse beliefs.

Most societies saw the evils as something that just happened.  Maybe you weren't adequately pious when you were cleaning yourself for temple.  Maybe you forgot a protection amulet.  Maybe you were just unlucky.

And evil was always a gray area.  Killing is bad but if you're killing someone to protect yourself, your community, your family then it's acceptable.  They understood it as a range and not a dichotomy.

In many societies, the deities were all good and beneficial.  In some (Greece and Rome, I'm looking at you) the gods seem to be a bunch of Frat Boys with no moderator to rein them in.

Thanks. I get it now. As interesting as those things are, I've never taken the time to study them.

I watch what you post and really appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

[Byrd]

Thanks. I get it now. As interesting as those things are, I've never taken the time to study them.

I watch what you post and really appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

I actually was peripherally involved in a scholarly group of Egyptologists and Egyptology students who were interested in Egyptian "demons" - which is a truly fascinating study.  There were a couple of different categories of these spirits; some of them guarded the Gates of the Underworld (this is a New Kingdom belief... so... after 1800 BC) and would destroy anyone who didn't have the proper passwords to get to the heavenly fields.

My favorite is "Sandbank of Horrible of Face."  Just the name reminded me of an old science fiction story about a snow... thing that basically freeze-dried anything living that it came into contact with.

Other favorite demons are some of the spirits from Japan, as well as some of the ones talked about in books about masks in the Northwest (Tlingit, Salish, Alaskan Native Americans) -- cannibal otter people and other demonic things that stalked the villages, particularly in the winter.

[Blaine91555]

Other favorite demons are some of the spirits from Japan, as well as some of the ones talked about in books about masks in the Northwest (Tlingit, Salish, Alaskan Native Americans) -- cannibal otter people and other demonic things that stalked the villages, particularly in the winter.

I've done some reading about Alaskan natives' mythology and also about their myths surrounding animals.

I ran into an Inuit Shaman walking around downtown Anchorage a half dozen times during the first few years I lived here. When he would see me he would walk right up to me and start talking to me. I don't know what attracted him to me. I might make a thread about that at some time as there was an interesting story surrounding one of my encounters with him.

[Veleda]

“Blah blah blah, my God is the one true God.”

One civilizations gods are another's demons. It's a hive-mind p/ssing contest.